Golf: Public has great access to courses

Saturday

Jul 19, 2014 at 9:20 PMJul 19, 2014 at 9:31 PM

Bill Doyle Golf

Two-thirds of the golf clubs that belong to the Massachusetts Golf Association are open to the public and Jesse Menachem, the association's first-year executive director, would like to reach out to them.

"It's an important piece of the puzzle," Menachem said, "and obviously a huge chunk of who we're trying to attract."

Menachem grew up in Framingham and learned the game by playing with his father, Marshall, at such courses as Juniper Hill GC, Stow Acres CC, Wayland CC and Sandy Burr CC, all of which are open to the public. In college, he became a junior member at Marlboro CC, which allows public play on Mondays and Tuesdays.

Menachem said a "significant" amount of the state's golfers don't even know what the MGA is.

"We need to do a better job of letting them know that we provide handicapping," Menachem said, "that you're able to track your index, that we provide member services through our magazine, through our website, through our state championships, through our member day programs. So it's really a nice affiliation to have that gives you access to many different things within the golf community here in the state."

Growing the game is a challenge. HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel plans to air a report Tuesday about what it calls "the alarming downturn in the golf industry" nationally after too many courses were built in the 1980s and 1990s. According to Real Sports, over the last eight years participation in the sport had dropped 20 percent and more courses have closed than opened.

"Potentially," Menachem said, "I think that could happen anywhere. We do have a lot of clubs in a small, condensed area and I know industry-wide it's been a challenge attracting new people to play golf and to get people to play more golf."

Nevertheless, Menachem and the MGA are trying their best to get more people involved in the game.

Menachem was promoted from director of rules and competitions to executive director last October to replace Joe Sprague, who left after nearly six years to join the USGA's regional affairs department. At 27, Menachem is the youngest executive director in the MGA's 110-year history, and the youngest of any golf association of its size in the country. More than 380 golf clubs with 84,000 members belong to the MGA.

Menachem would also like the MGA to do a better job of serving the entire state.

"We need to expose our events all across the state," Menachem said, "and I think it's important to do that. You may take a hit with entries for a certain event if you go out west or somewhere remote, but it's important to showcase these golf courses and their histories. I have no problem making a visit for the state amateur or the state open in Worcester or in Western Mass."

None of the 11 Massachusetts Golf Association's championship events will be held in Central Mass. this year, but three will be contested in the area in 2015.

The Massachusetts Amateur will be played at Oak Hill CC in Fitchburg on July 13-17. The Mass. Junior Amateur will be held at Hopkinton CC from July 27-29. The Mass. Mid-Amateur will be held at Marlboro CC from Sept. 8-10. Frank Vana Jr., who won his ninth Mass. Mid-Amateur title last year, is a member at Marlboro CC as well as Andover CC.

In 2016, the Mass. Open will be held at Worcester CC from June 13-15. All of the above mentioned events were scheduled before Menachem became executive director, but he wouldn't mind returning to the region.

At Framingham High, Menachem was captain of the golf team, but baseball was his favorite sport. He played first and third and pitched for the FHS baseball team.

Menachem formed a list of a handful of organizations to inquire about internships after his freshman year at Indiana University in 2005 and he cold called Owen O'Malley, the MGA's director of rules and competition.

After another phone conversation with Thomas Landry, executive director at the time, Menachem was awarded the internship. He became the first intern to be invited back for another year and ended up interning for three summers.

After graduating from Indiana, Menachem joined the MGA full-time and a year later became director of rules and competition. Menachem promoted Kevin Eldridge to director of rules and competition.

Menachem has the even-keeled temperament needed for his job. When rain washed out most of the second round of match play in the Massachusetts Amateur in Salem last Wednesday, Menachem, Eldridge, MGA president Clarence Bennett of Longmeadow CC and MGA championship committee chairman Tom Berkel of Wyantenuck CC in Great Barrington calmly worked with Kernwood CC officials to reschedule the 36-hole final from Friday to Saturday.

"You can't get frustrated," Menachem said, "because there are surprises constantly and you can come up with contingency plans A, B, C and D, but it may be option E or F that really comes to light and that's something I've learned. Nobody really taught me that."

Small turnout for Women's Open

Susan Bond is trying her best to keep the Massachusetts Women's Open alive. At times, she must wonder if she's the only one.

Bond extended the registration deadline to last Friday, but earlier in the week she expected no more than 25 golfers to take part in the 24th annual Mass. Women's Open Monday and Tuesday.

"I've blasted so many emails," Bond said, "they're probably sick of seeing my address come up in their mailboxes, but I'm not begging people to play either."

The event will be held at Meadow Brook Golf Club in Reading after being contested the previous two years at Mount Pleasant CC in Boylston.

Bond said Meadow Brook has wanted to host the Mass. Women's Open for years and is looking forward to this week.

"We have more volunteers than we do players, which is sad," Bond said.

In addition to a small field, Bond said the tournament hasn't had a sponsor for at least three years.

"We're basically playing for a title and our entry fees," Bond said. "We don't have any money."

Five former champions have registered: Bond, Beth O'Kelly of Black Rock in Hingham, Kammy Maxfeldt of Birchwood CC in Westport, Connecticut, Hope Kelley of the Ranch in Southwick and amateur Tara Joy Connelly of Cohasset CC. Joanne Catlin of Oak Hill CC in Fitchburg was among the few amateurs to register as of early last week.

The Mass. Women's Open has never had more than 50 golfers play, but the numbers have fallen off in recent years. One reason for the low turnout is the lack of female golf pros in the region.

Bond, the head pro at Weekapaug Golf Club in Westerly, Rhode Island, estimated there are only about a dozen. So the tournament relies on amateurs to fill out the field, but fewer are signing up.

Amateurs won both of the events held at Mount Pleasant, which changed its name to The Haven CC this year.

Last year, Mary Mulcahy of Hatherly CC in Scituate shot 76-72 for a two-day total of even-par 148 to win by a shot. Later in the year, Mulcahy teamed with her father John to win the MGA Father-Daughter championship for the fourth consecutive year. Mulcahy will be a junior at the University of Central Florida this fall.

Two years ago, Brittany Altomare of Shrewsbury won before turning pro the following summer. In 2010, the tournament was held at Pleasant Valley CC in Sutton and Becky McDaid, an assistant pro at Friar's Head GC on Long Island, won.

Bond said the Connecticut Women's Open draws golfers from New York, which has a larger number of female pros, but those pros don't travel to Massachusetts.

Bond plans to keep the Mass. Women's Open going as long as she can and hopes to attract more golfers and a sponsor. "I'm so stubborn, it'll probably end up killing me," she said.

Umphrey at World Juniors

Tim Umphrey of Tatnuck CC and a rising junior at St. John's High, didn't make the cut at the Callaway World Junior Championship in LaJolla, California, last week, but he held his own against the best young golfers in the world.

Umphrey missed the cut by seven shots after carding rounds of 75-82-76 for a three-day total of 17-over 233 on the South Course at Torrey Pines GC that was set up at 7,250-7,400 yards with the 2009 U.S. Open pins. After Umphrey lost his tee shot on the fourth hole — apparently it hit a tree and never came down — he parred the hole on his second ball for a double bogey and he played his final 14 holes in 1 over.

Umphrey tied for 80th among the more than 200 players who competed in his 15-17 age bracket. Umphrey tied Tianlin Zhang of Concord for the best finish by a New Englander. Golfers from the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, China, South Africa, Spain and other countries took part.

Umphrey will compete in the Mass. Junior Amateur at Nashawtuc CC in Concord July 28-30.

Contact Bill Doyle at wdoyle@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillDoyle15